The pond is a natural feature, a "kettle pond" it was formed by glacial recession during the last Ice Age. It is also a park, making up a piece of the "Emerald Necklace". It is approximately a mile around and that makes its circular path a favorite place for walkers and runners. The Jamaica Pond was a habitat for Neponset Indians for part of the year in the era before English settlers arrived. In the 1790s it became a water supply for Boston. The ranger station under the bandstand has one of the high tech waterpipes from that time on display (a hollowed out log). Later, the Pond became a player in the ice industry, with cutters taking the ice, storing it in ice houses on the banks and shipping it far and wide. Nowadays, the Jamaica Pond is an idyllic enclave in a bustling world (that is, if you can ignore the cars zipping by on the roads that surround it!)

As Boston's second largest wooded area, Allandale Woods is a crucial component of the city's natural areas inventory. Allandale Woods is located behind the Arnold Arboretum on the Jamaica Plain/West Roxbury line and is bordered roughly by Allandale Street, Centre Street, the VFW Parkway, and Hackensack Road. The acquisition of conservation land at Allandale Woods in 1975 represented the first step in creating the Charles-to-Charles open space corridor, an 8-mile open space belt of existing parkland, private estates, and wetlands that stretches from the Fens and the Charles River Basin, along the Boston/Brookline boundary, and through the Sawmill marshes to the Charles River in West Roxbury. Composed primarily of oaks, maples, and pines, Allandale Woods is one of the few relatively pristine secondary growth oak-hickory forests in the city of Boston. Trails, laid out by the Appalachian Mountain Club in 1992, run throughout the site leading to various areas fo interest including three ponds, several streams, and a marsh.

Tucked between the Forest Hills Station and the Arnold Arboretum, the Bussey Brook Urban Wild, also called the South Street tract, has recently been incorporated into the arboretum. As part of the annexation, a stabilized stonedust pathway was constructed through the wild from Forest Hills Station to South Street. Select areas were cleared of prior vegetation and replanted. However, the majority of the site remains in its former condition. Boasting a small section of the Stony Brook, this is the last area where the brook can be seen before it is funneled into the conduit to the lower basin of the Charles River. As a low-lying area, the wild is composted of a marsh and upraised filled land.

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Forest Hills was established in 1848 as a garden cemetery for the City of Roxbury. It is a wonderful place composing 250 acres of rolling land punctuated with ponds, trees and gardens. If neighboring Arnold Arboretum is too crowded, and/or you are a loner looking for quiet and greenery, go here. Both spots are a short walk from the Forest Hills T Stop. I often found Forest Hills Cemetery to be a quick escape to another world away from the city. Its much like Mount Auburn Cemetery in the historical landscaped cemetery category, but it's the more obscure, less famous, less endowed cousin. Still there is plenty of neat architecture, sculptures, art displays, famous graves, and spots waiting for you to discover them in this sprawling almost 300 acre cemetery. They also have events and concerts, so if you want to do something semi-social there visit their website or pick up a brochure. Forest Hills is still an active cemetery and plots are available.

The mural in Mozart Park is a bridge, telling the story of this violent history while speaking of a hopeful future. Originally painted in 1987 by artists from Boston and Nicaragua through a program called “Arts for a New Nicaragua,” the mural was updated in 2001 by youth from the Hyde Square Task Force. The mural shows scenes from the Central American countryside. In the mural, George Washington stands next to conga players, illustrating the diversity of the area. Tropical fish and dancers hint at the Central American roots of the community. A “matchstick man” symbolizes landlords who in the late ‘80s burned down their own houses to collect insurance money. The images in the mural meander through the Central American countryside back to the city. The renovation of the Mozart Park mural in 2001 was an effort to stem crime, in addition to a desperately needed update to what was then a 14-year-old piece of art.

Playground adjacent to the Agassiz School. It is fenced, and is used by residents of the surrounding neighborhood. A row of closely spaced triple-decker residences lines Child Street and the southern edge of the Playground. The playground is pristine, with the only indications of usage being a few skid marks left by children's sneakers on the slide. The only sign of neglect on the ball field are crumbling bleachers with an outcropping of weeds.

Formerly part of a quarry, Nira Rock consists of two major sections, an upper section and a lower section. The two sections are about equal in size. The upper section consists of a puddingstone outcropping, about forty-feet high. The east, north, and west sides of the outcrop are bordered by steep, rocky slopes and shrubby woodlands. The southeastern portion of the rock ascends gently from the end of Arcola Street. A mown path leads to the top of the rock providing good views of the Jamaicaway. The lower section of the site can be accessed from the end of Nira Avenue, or by following the trail down from and around the rock. It is maintained as an open meadow/orchard, with yearly mowing required to prevent the establishment of dense woody vegetation. The meadow/orchard can also be accessed from the Hennigan Schoolyard and the recently-renovated Jefferson Playground.